Aloysius J. Mandelbaum
Aloysius J. Mandelbaum is a brilliant mind, but past his days of recognition and relevance. It is thanks to him, his Whiffle Boy, and his molecular digitizer that the company acquired a sustainable franchise and he would still be a visionary genius of renown if it weren't for the fact that he's stubbornly old-fashioned. His heart is with the days of 16-bit game consoles and solitary gameplay, as opposed to the luxurious massive multiplayer online games that are the current norm. Unable and perhaps unwilling to keep up, Mandelbaum has been let go by the company that ultimately owes its dominating position within the video game industry to him. He manages to get by, but he hasn't been the same since. Character Background In the simpler days of 16-bit game consoles, Mandelbaum revolutionized the market concurrently with his Whiffle Boy game and with his molecular digitizer. Millions of copies of the game were sold, Whiffle Boy tournaments were held, and even a Whiffle Town was founded. Meanwhile, the molecular digitizer helped keep the programming costs and time low so that the company obtained maximum profit in record time. Mandelbaum was proud of his work, but he wasn't the only one with ideas at the company. As the game industry evolved to 32-bit systems, 64-bit systems, and further, and new ideas had to work with those technical specifications, Mandelbaum found himself going from being ahead to keeping up less and less. The progress of the game industry became the inverse of his career, until the moment came that said career was over. Mandelbaum's fate ironically mirrors Quackerjack's, who blames video games and Whiffle Boy in particular for his toy company going out of business. The crucial difference between them is that, while Quackerjack snapped and became a dangerous criminal, Mandelbaum became melancholic and dressed up his home in Whiffle Boy memorabilia to keep the spirit of his heydays around. Personality Mandelbaum is an inventor at heart and loves to tinker with machinery. It is this fondness that brought him into the game industry, where he found a second love in video games. Enthusiastic and creative, he gave it his all, caring more about the product than his payment. When his employment contract was terminated because the company and the game industry at large developed visions irreconcilable with his, enthusiasm twisted into regret and sorrow. The man of old is still at home, but despirited and devoid of direction. Mandelbaum surrounds himself with objects acquired over the course of his career, like merchandise, awards, game copies and the consoles to play them, and his old inventions. He doesn't necessarily do anything with them, but keeping the items near helps him be at ease. Appearance Mandelbaum's parents likely are a chicken and a duck, because he's got the head of the former and the feet of the latter. He's a white-feathered bird who wears glasses and goes for simple shirts and overalls. Fiction Boom! Studios comics Mandelbaum gets a visit from Jack, a former employee of Quackwerks who remembered Mandelbaum from a consultation visit. He asks about the old days of Whiffle Boy, which Mandelbaum is delighted to have an opportunity to talk about. On Jack's advice, he gets out the molecular digitizer he's held on to and makes a few adjustments so that rather than digitizing objects, it now turns them into toys. Once he's done, Jack giddily reveals himself to be Quackerjack and tests the molecular digitizer on Mandelbaum. In a matter excruciating seconds, Mandelbaum becomes a doll. Quackerjack takes off with his new weapon, but leaves the doll of his enemy behind. Darkwing Duck finds it once word gets out that Mandelbaum has disappeared and rightly concludes that the doll is Mandelbaum. Going after Quackerjack, he retrieves the molecular digitizer and finds it to have a reverse switch. Launchpad looks forward to de-toyifing Mandelbaum because he wants to tell him how much he adores Whiffle Boy. Joe Books Notes * Aloysius J. Mandelbaum and Claire were both designed by Sabrina Alberghetti, who provided the art for "Toy with Me".More Annual at Sibsy's DeviantArt account * As the inventor of Whiffle Boy and the molecular digitizer, an object introduced in the Season 1 episode "Whiffle While You Work", Aloysius is the first (and so far only) character introduced in the Boom! Studios-Joe Books series that is inspired by events in the cartoon. References Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Civilians Category:Artists Category:Engineers Category:2011 characters Category:Boom! Studios comic characters Category:Joe Books comic characters